Google Docs integration is not only an interesting subject in itself, the interest level is also surprising me. I don’t know why. I shouldn’t be surprised that something Google is doing is about to turn to gold. Again.

Google Docs is a free system for Content Management that gives you online capabilities for Documents, Spreadsheets, Presentations and Forms so that you can Create, Edit, Share, and Collaborate with access from anywhere on the Internet. Google Docs allows for shared editing and complete revision histories.

So some are beginning to ask: How do you integrate Google Docs and Enterprise Systems? Many companies with ERP systems like SAP, Oracle, JD Edwards, Infor, Sage, and Microsoft Dynamics are seeking ways to integrate Google Docs with financial and accounting systems. Other companies are expressing initial interest in CRM integration with their content management systems like Google Docs. These companies are running systems like salesforce.com, Oracle Siebel CRM, SAP CRM, Dynamics CRM and others. HRIS and workforce management integration of applications like PeopleSoft HR and Kronos are also commonly anticipated as part of an enterprise’s requirements for integration with Google Docs.

Well, with the iBOLT Google Docs Component you can Create a Folder, Upload an Item, Update an Item, Set Access Control, Query and Retrieve Item Lists, and Move and Delete Items.

With a content management system with the name “Google” in it you would of course fully expect the search capabilities to be off the charts. You can find documents by owner, viewers, editors, timestamp, document name, document text and much more.

We’ve started to see a number of integration use case scenarios for Google Docs. Clearly, there are advantages to using a system like iBOLT with Google Docs when you want automated document generation from enterprise data thus allowing multi-channel communications where the user sets their preferred document type(s). You can also implement on-the-fly document generation based on enterprise data which reduces storage requirements. Go green! Enterprises also have many mobile or remote employees who will enjoy using mobile applications integrated to Google Docs without the need for local mobile device storage of their documents or even any need to synchronize devices in order to get access from anywhere. As long as you have an Internet connection, you’re good to go.

As I said, automated document finding with Google Docs is no surprise given the long history the company has with content search algorithms. The ability to associate viewer, editor, and owner metadata to documents can have interesting applications for training, education, compliance, and a number of other scenarios. Google Docs form input provides an easy way for many users to input data from anywhere to one list – and with iBOLT the integration to backend systems is handled.

iBOLT can also automate document access control, a huge issue in many enterprise situations, in interesting ways that relate to the ownership, editing and viewing privileges of the documents. Many large and, medium and small businesses are scrambling to get their content ownership and access privileges under control in the face of government regulators and hostile litigators or both.

Another important way that iBOLT can add some pizazz to a company's Google Docs implementation is by integrating Google Docs to Social Media and Web 2.0 technologies. The obvious one is an automated tweet to different twitter accounts when documents are added or edited for example. iBOLT can read the name of the document, the author and the moment it is saved push it out to all sorts of API enabled social media sites. I tend to think the most important ones are Twitter, LinkedIn, FaceBook and Digg, but maybe that's just me. Hmm. Comments?

In our webinars, we explore a number of examples of ERP system integration to Google Docs including address book integration, time cards integration, expense reports integration, inventory tracking integration, asset management integration, master item data or catalog integration and pricing or price list integration. And not to be forgotten, of course, is the capabilities that iBOLT can provide to help a business with content management coexistence. You can integrate Google Docs with SharePoint applications including full access to SharePoint Business Data Catalogs, Entities, Lists and so on. You can also achieve Google Docs and Lotus Notes/Domino integration with iBOLT. The included adapters make it, dare we say it, easy. Other iBOLT integration methods may be used for Documentum, OpenText and other systems. Some may wan to talk about Salesforce.com's new social media platform as well, but for me its just Chatter at this point. Marc Benioff is a FaceBook friend, so maybe he can convince me otherwise.

With iBOLT, your Google Docs enterprise application integration (EAI) and business process management capabilities (BPM) are based on open standards that allow you to design, deploy and monitor business processes that connect databases, applications, Websites, Web services, documents and human workflow.

iBOLT projects for integrating Google Docs manage processes and flows that are built from an included library of components, methods and wizards. iBOLT flows can also give you the ability to create composite business processes that are service-enabled using service oriented architecture (SOA) principles with inputs and outputs to .NET, J2EE, RPG, COBOL and other program logic.

iBOLT’s unique capabilities will no doubt be welcome to enterprise integration architects seeking to employ Google Docs in an enterprise environment. With its large included technical adapter library, visual approach, no scripting paradigm, powerful debugger, and built-in monitoring all built on a unified technology stack, iBOLT is definitely worth investigating.

You can achieve what Magic Software Enterprises likes to call superior return-on-exisiting-investment (ROEI). Return on Existing Investment (ROEI) means you get the value that was originally intended from your existing IT assets. This is accomplished by eliminating gaps between knowledge worker documents and “the real business.” iBOLT helps you to create efficiencies between employees and teams thereby accelerating the speed of your business and creating unique competitive advantages that will help your business adapt in today’s economic climate. All of which adds up to success both in the top and the bottom line.

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3 Comments

Glenn, We recently purchased iBolt to integrate our ecommerce orders to JDE.
We also use Google Docs for Content Management (and alerts when you post a new article)
I am looking forward to our training and all the possibilites of what we will be able to
do with iBolt. Looks like iBolt is going to really make our lives so much easier.

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